Why Don't We Make This A Regular Thing?
by Deadeye47
Summary: "This city is so awful, these people so terrible. Even Batman is a hypocrite." A new drug hits the market in Gotham; hidden in baggies and pipes. At the same time, Dick has a falling out and Jason gets a new roomie. Is there another Dynamic Duo in Gotham's midst? Gritty JayDick.
1. Chapter 1

_Wowowowow I'm surprised I haven't written anything for this fandom yet. Well here you go._

_I got inspired to write some sordid JayDick after looking through The Dark Knight Returns again. This fanfiction is also available at AO3 under the same name. _

"You shouldn't be here," Jason said gruffly, his eyes narrowing as blue and black dashed across a nearby rooftop. He watched lamely as Dick lost his grip, _how odd_, and slipped. He skidded across the concrete, escrima sticks flung to the side.

The acrobats outline struggled, illuminated in plastic, neon light and the soft hint of the moon. Jason stubbed out his cigarette and ran a hand through his hair. He watched for moments more, his position on the water tower secure enough. Dick seemed to slip even deeper into pain with each attempt at getting up. His legs shook with exertion and Jason waited even longer to smell blood. The shiny crimson was dulled in the night, but even Jason could tell that Dick was loosing quite a bit.

Dick's Nightwing costume was in tatters, ruined by knives and tricky bullets Jason supposed. He was surprised that Dick had managed to make it that far on his own. He could feel his own heart swell in concern and he stamped it down, reaching for another cigarette. With each exhale of smoke; he felt a little frustration leave him. But even the swirling patterns of white could not hide Nightwing's prone body from Jason's careful eyes.

Dick cried out then, his arms collapsing. Jason shuddered and thought about meddling with a group of kids that was beginning to gather at the base of the building. Their sneaky, idiotic stances and stupid attempts at dealing gave Jason enough motives to stay away though. He had no time to fight with kids. He'd snatch the shit off them later perhaps.

"Call Oracle already idiot," Jason muttered, the smolder on his cigarette beginning to burn his fingertips. He hissed loudly and dropped it, letting it fall and startle the youth pack. They dropped their stuff immediately, blades and voices out.

"Who's up there? Come out you fuckin' coward!"

Jason sighed and reached for his helmet.

He didn't kill them or anything, just stole the package of marijuana they had been shuffling around.

"Go home. You don't belong here," He told them harshly.

_Dick should be gone by now, _He thought.

"We just tryin' to make a living man!" One said.

Jason snorted, "Don't try that shit with me. "

He lunged at them and they all scattered, their pack seemingly meaningless. Jason stuffed the drugs under his arm and made the climb back up to the water tower. Maybe he'd dump this stuff with Bruce later and make him check it out. Although weed wasn't a major problem in Gotham.

"Weird," He said out loud.

It wasn't a huge find, just a medium baggie with a couple of buds. He opened it, fingers riffling through the sticky substance. But when his fingers hit something cold, he froze.

He pulled out a nice, little vial. It was glass and filled with clear liquid. Jason didn't open it.

"Fuck."

He dropped the vial back into the bag and looked out across Gotham again. He ought to drop this shit with Tim. The little fucker was irritating but was absolutely brilliant at stuff like this. Besides, Jason had lost a lot of his equipment when his old safe house had blown prematurely.

He tried to ignore how Dick was still lying there, the little puddle now expanded to a lake underneath him. Jason felt his heart skip a beat and he coughed, as if attempting to force it back into rhythm.

He sat there for ten more minutes, listening to idle whore chatter and attempting to catch Bruce's com line. After failing several times he sighed.

"Don't make me do this Dickie-bird."

When he actually arrived at Dick's body, it was a lot worse than he'd thought. The blue that usually ran across Nightwing's chest had been almost chiseled out, the flash Jason caught earlier on a sliver of what it had formerly been. The blood flow had stopped, but Jason spotted three glistening wounds on Dick's sides as well as multiple scratches and bruises littering his pale skin. His domino had almost been ripped off his face, but Jason guessed Dick had been most protective of that over all.

The weirdest thing is that he didn't have his com in.

He normally would've kicked Dick off the building. But this was anything but normal.

He first tried to catch Bruce's lines again. It was a Saturday. The dynamic duo should be out by now, sliding around on the other side of town. He caught nothing but static.

He shouldn't be doing this. He really shouldn't be doing this.

When he picked up Dick's body, the man almost fell right off his shoulder. Jason readjusted him and huffed.

"You're so fucking lucky my safe house is right around the corner Golden Boy, or I would've left you here to bleed out."

Jason wasn't sure if he was really talking to Dick.

He tried to ignore the weird looks he got from his local girls at the corner as he climbed into his current safe house. He entered through the window, the front door abandoned once again. He left Dick spread out on the bed and went to look for his raggedy first-aid kit. He flipped Dick over, stripping him down to his boxers. Jason wasn't modest or shy, he didn't have time for shit like that. Although, he had to admit, Dick was just as attractive out of his suit as he was in it. He tried to ignore how normal it felt, tried to look away from Dick's muscular stomach and domino mask and remind himself that this was _insanity-_not the real world.

Dick moaned as Jason cleaned the wounds but he didn't wake up (which worried Jason a little). He noticed immediately that the cuts were very precise, as if they had been outlined. Dick had been chopped up like a pig for slaughter, incisions marked and ready. They weren't haphazard cuts, but planned injuries. It almost looked like Dick did this to himself, but Jason knew goldie too well for that.

Once clean, he grabbed an old shirt and pulled it over Dick's head. His skin was sticky and filthy, but Jason wasn't picky, he lived in a shithole for god's sake. He ripped off the domino and placed it on the nightstand, although it was too damaged to be used again. Like the rest of Nightwing's costume, it seemed whoever had caught him was an avid fan. Usually nut cases like that went after the suit, looking for some sort of keepsake.

"I wonder who brought you down," Jason said.

He placed one hand on Dick's forehead and felt the burn immediately. Not good.

Only after he got the water and Advil did he realize he would need to rouse Dick for this. He propped him up and lightly slapped his cheeks. Dick's eyes peeled open, hazy and confused. He coughed and shook with fever. His mouth opened, but only gasps came out. Words slipped off his tongue and Jason took the chance, stuffing the pills and water down Dick's throat.

"There you go. Swallow. Swallow," Jason ordered.

"Jay...," He mumbled.

He fell back into sleep quickly after. Jason wiped the slick sweat off Dick's forehead and stood up straight.

He needed a smoke.

And a shower.

And probably not Nightwing in his fucking bed wearing his fucking shirt-_goddamnit it. _

_Please review to tell me what you think and whether or not I should continue this! :) _


	2. Chapter 2

_yoooooooooo _

_i hope u like it yeah thats it _

_thanks for the reviews! i would like more thou tbh i am lame and idk how to write_ DC

Jason took his time that night with patrol, keeping his hands up and his thoughts quick. He tried to circle back into routine, but he found his head too scattered with thoughts of his old family to concentrate on tracking down rapists and shaking criminals for information. However, he found that his growing frustration at the turn of events actually ate up more time. And so, he leapt from building to building, not really touching much but simply struggling with his thoughts. He beat up a couple of scumbags, but he couldn't seem to pull the trigger. He tried not to think that Dick had spurred all this up in him, that he avoided killing to avoid attention from _Batman. _Dick had only been with him for _one day. _

Not Bruce. Batman. Jason knew there was a difference.

His nerves ate away at him as the dawn approached. He hadn't run into Robin and Batman, which was good, but he knew he had caught glimpses of Red Robin. Tim was obviously worried. At least his replacement had a better heart than he did.

When he entered his safe-house, Dick was already up and standing. He was in the kitchen, leaning up against the counter and staring lamely at the microwave. Jason thought that maybe the intermediate flicks of numbers, pulsing every second or so, mirrored Dick's sluggish thoughts. He barely noticed Jason when he entered, only giving the vigilante a narrowed glance before he sighed and moved to the bedroom. Jason groaned in irritation, the night wearing down on him. He just wanted to shower and sleep, perhaps after he figured out how to get the vial to Tim without Batman knowing. He could always just identify the substance himself, but he figured that he would most likely end up getting some of the properties incorrect.

And he sucked at antidotes.

Just as he had slipped off his leather jacket and placed his helmet on the table, he heard a crash from the bedroom. His feet spurred him into action and he cursed the worry that bloomed in his chest so rapidly. He heard Dick swear in Romanian, which was odd, and then more jumbled noise. By the time he arrived, Dick was sprawled on the floor, attempting to get himself back up using the sheets hanging off the bed. He had knocked over the nightstand, spilling debris across the carpet. Dick didn't turn to him and Jason didn't move. Instead, he leaned up against the doorframe and watched as Dick struggled. He was crimson again.

Jason shuddered slightly, disliking how the color looked against Dick's skin. It seemed so harsh in this light- in the light of a new dawn in Gotham. Dick looked as if he had been roughly branded, designed to look unnatural and unpleasing. Jason had never thought Dick had looked unpleasing before.

Eventually, Dick's grip loosened and he deflated. Jason took his queue and helped to load him back onto the bed. He was still burning up, _that idiot, _and had begun to cry a little. Jason ignored it. He couldn't afford to look Dick in the eye and see his _tears, _his genuine tears caused by god knows what. His tears that would easily spin Jason into a bad night and Dick into some sort of fit. Neither of them wanted it, and Jason could tell. Dick's cheeks were painted pink, but Jason was sure it wasn't all due to fever. He pushed Dick's embarrassment, and some hair out of his face, aside.

"You're injured. So shut up and sit still, " He hissed.

Dick's voice was low, "Thanks. Couldn't have figured that out without you."

_Dick? Sarcastic? Shit, he must've fought with Bruce._

"You obviously can't, because you just made a mess and ruined your bandages, " Jason pulled out the kit he had left under the bed. "And if you don't want that fever to kill you, you'll stay still for at least a few days," He instructed.

"But isn't that what you want Jaybird? Me dead?" Dick teased.

Jason ripped off the gauze roughly, making Dick wince.

"Don't give me that fucking pity crap. Just because you had a big fight with ol' Bats doesn't mean you get to sit here feeling sorry for yourself," He replied.

Dick didn't say anything back; just bit his lip and stared out the window. The sun was beginning to come up, catching the white Jason's hair and Dick's new bandages. Gotham's usual daytime bustle was starting up as a low rumble that would surely overwhelm them both come nine o'clock.

"You get to stay here while you're injured. Then you'll go back and sort yourself out. I'm not your freakin' therapist," Jason said as he finished wrapping up the last of Dick's wounds.

Dick didn't give Jason another glance, so Jason decided to leave. He covered Dick up and gave him two more Advils before hitting the shower. The hot water burned away his bubbling anger (at Dick for being so fucking _weird, _at Bruce for being awful as usual, for whoever had slipped drugs into the kush, and _Jason himself _for acting like a confused pussy). His thoughts were watered down when he got out, but they still nipped at him. He wrapped his waist in a towel and moved to the living room. He munched on old noodles from a takeout order two days earlier and began to look through Tim's known patrols.

He didn't come out very often and Jason hardly ever saw him (they both made sure of that) and Tim tended to work in other cities and with other groups. Jason would have to _wait _for him, he'd have to look and search and corner him like a cat. And Tim was loyal, he wouldn't go against Bruce.

But was he more loyal to Bruce or to Dick? Jason couldn't tell at this point, but if he pulled his _Do it for Dick _card, he might be able to convince him. Jason just needed to find a way to make an antidote so when he tracked that fucker down, he could make sure he was prepared. He wondered if Dick would want to come with him, he wondered if Bruce would let him.

_No, I meant what I said. Just a couple of days._

Jason found little answer in Tim's patrols and put it off to another day. He fell asleep on the couch, too uncomfortable to sleep in the same bed with Dick.

Xxx

As it turned out, Dick was actually a pretty loud sleeper. Jason hadn't really noticed when he had been living at the manor (but Jason also barely remembered when Dick was _at _that manor anyways), but now it seemed Dick was intent on making Jason's life as awkward as possible. He would groan (erotically of course) and hang off the bed, and he would toss and tumble and turn Jason's comforter into a goddamn mess. Jason may live in a shithole, but he kept a good bed _damn it._

Jason never knew that keeping a bird in your house could cause so much _stress._

As it also turned out, it did take a couple of days for Dick to get on his feet again. He still didn't say much to Jason, unless he was sleeping, and obviously bit back his tongue when Jason would check on his wounds or mention if he had seen Batman on patrol that day or not. Jason tried to ignore how hard he was trying to get a rise of Dick. It just didn't seem natural to see the golden boy so incapacitated.

Five days of Nightwing had passed already, and now Dick could make it to the kitchen on his own without falling down. His fever had broken on the third day and Jason found himself suspicious of how unmotivated Dick was to return. If he had just fought with Bruce, he would've run back now and made up. And he still wasn't shining like he should have been. Jason wasn't used to such a dull Dick.

It was on this fifth day that Dick and Jason were eating lunch together, the air silent and tense. Jason took two more bites of his sandwich before he put it down and sighed.

"You gotta go. Seriously, Dick, this arrangement is not going to work out."

Dick put his food down as well, "I can't go back right now."

Jason sighed, "Then go stay with one of your hero friends. I've got shit to do golden boy and you aren't part of my equation."

Dick sighed.

Jason felt his anger bubble up again, both at himself and at Dick, "You can't fucking just invite yourself into my life! I took you in because you were _bleeding _out on a rooftop, not because I wanted a new roommate. I know you're pissed at Bruce and he must've done something _seriously fucked up _if you're still this mad at him. You might have a great ass but I'm _not _an option in your life and you're not one in mine!"

His rage had sent him standing, eyes wide and fists ready. Dick didn't react, but he seemed to control his next words as he spoke them.

"Don't you want me to help you get the vial to Tim?" He asked slyly. Jason froze.

"You w-"

"You talk to yourself a lot. I bet you think you're being quiet, but I think you're just used to being alone, " Dick paused. "I can help you."

Jason snorted, "With being alone or with the drug."

"Depends on what you want, " Dick replied.

Jason started long and hard, contemplating Dick's words. Did he _want _another person in his life-this close to him again? Hold on, why was he considering that _first? _He should be thinking about getting a fucking antidote for _god knows _what this was and attempting to bring down another idiot who had invaded Gotham. Dick Grayson couldn't be a priority, Jason couldn't let that happen. He had washed his hands of the Wayne family, he had found new allies and new investments. He wasn't about to take in Bruce's favorite kid.

His silence must have unnerved Dick, because he began to babble.

"I won't bother you. I can give the vial to Tim and stay out of your way. I'll even be your eyes and ears if you want, depending on whether or not I can evade Oracle's sensors."

_He's avoiding Babs? Whoa._

"And I'll go out on patrol when Bruce and Damian aren't out, so there won't be an confrontations. And I won't bother you, Jason, _please. _ I just can't go home right now."

No, this was a bad idea, a _terrible _idea. Dick was dangerous in his house, he was fire and Jason was like a ball of lint. They'd go together. Jason knew that if he let Dick stay for his little _cry until I feel better _period than there would be consequences. But actually having Dick living with him? Jason, as a normal human being, as someone who wasn't stubborn as hell, would love it. But he wasn't normal. He couldn-

"I can even help you find the guy. I think it's the same man as the one who injured me. He said something about enriching the youth and showing Gotham a new future in crime."

Jason was listening.

"He said he was gonna introduce something new, something _fresh _to the streets. Well, that's what I heard when he was cutting me up. Freak even traced where he was going to slice me with sharpie. He also said he was a fan, that'd he'd be waiting for Bat's entrance, " Dick chuckled wryly. "Too bad he picked the wrong bird."

Jason didn't like that tone, but he didn't knock Dick for it either.

Dick sighed again, louder this time, "Are you going to say anything?"

Jason bit his lip. He shouldn't, he _shouldn't. _Five days was long enough, but if Dick was offering to help, offering to take down this fool who had messed with his costume and caused Jason a whole lot of grief, then _maybe._

He threw his hands up, loving the hopeful glint in Dick's eyes

"Two weeks. You've got two weeks to get over yourself and help me kill psycho. But as soon as those two things are up, and believe me, they will be up pretty quick, you are _out. "_

Dick leapt up, the damn acrobat, and hugged Jason, the first genuine _Dick Grayson _act Jason had seen in those last five days.

"Thank you! Thank you so much. I promise I won't get in your way or mess with your style or tell Bru-"

"Shut the fuck up or I'll shoot you right here and now."

Dick laughed.


End file.
